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Fair To Midland is making the leap from the indie label
Serjical Strike Records, owned by System Of A Down's Serj
Tankian, to the major label Universal Republic Records on
their latest full length album Fables From A Mayfly: What I
Tell You Three Times Is True. Produced by David Bottril
(Tool, Peter Gabriel), the album is suffused with
large productions that have a cinematic scope and chord changes
that have a keen level of sophistication comparable to Coheed
And Cambria. The members of Fair To Midland agree that they
weren't very good for the first few years they played together
but consistent practicing, songwriting, and performing live evidently
brought them to the point of awesomeness that shows on Fables.
The band honed their playing on their previous EP's - The
Carbon Copy Silver Lining in 2002, Inter Funda Stifle
in 2004, and The Drawn And Quartered in 2006. Their succession
of records show how the band cultivated their propensity for hard
rock and nu metal textures and soaring vocals similar to Breaking
Benjamin and vocal growls like The Used. Many of the
songs have recurring motifs like crunching guitars, oscillating
rhythms, and soaring vocals that hover above the melodic channels.
Tracks like "Dance Of The Manatee," "Kyla Cries
Cologne," and "A Seafarer's Knot" demonstrate a
hard rock rotisserie in the rotating rhythms and guitar flurries
that reflect the songwriting structures of their mentor's band
System Of A Down. Like SOAD, Fair To Midland adds tidbits of subliminal
nuances that underscore the massive flurries; like bells ringing
out occasionally on "A Seafarer's Knot" and string arrangements
contouring the blustering guitars on "Tall Tales Taste Like
Sour Grapes," "Upgrade Brigade," and "Walls
Of Jericho."
The band is meticulous at building up colossal furies and receding
the stormy fluxes. The band transitions into softer panoplies
on tracks like "Vice/Versa" and "The Wife, The
Kids, And The White Picket Fence." The latter tune having
a shimmering guitar intro that ramps into episodes of voluminous
guitar raptures and vocals that soar above the action and come
down through the verses. The shuttering keyboard passages on
"April Fools And Eggmen" are dainty and thermal the
fiery guitar rankles. Chord changes bring the song to a series
of enchanting organ-toned phrases that herald a type of Narnia
fantasy world.
Fair To Midland have an esoteric vibe in their music and lyrics,
like in the track "Dance Of The Manatee": "Listen
to my proven guarantees while you're rolling up your sleeves/
Beatin' on the chest/ But we can keep it in a jar when it's comin'
cats and dogs for days/ Do you hear the concrete guarantees/ And
what they've done for you, they've done for me." The lyrics
have a sagacious tone to them and are deeply profound. The album
concludes with the soft billowing movements on "(When The
Bough Breaks) Say When" which glazes small ripples in the
melodic phrases that breathe in and out systematically before
fading out.
Fair To Midland's latest record Fables From A Mayfly: What
I Tell You Three Times Is True brings out the band's hard
rock/nu metal chops. The Dallas, Texas quintet of Darroh Sudderth
(lead vocals), Jon Dicken (bass), Cliff Campbell
(guitars), Matt Langley (keyboards), and Brett Stowers
(drums) have possibly made the album that they envisioned making
when they first started the band in 1998. It shows signs of their
influences and the band's own dynamics. The record has sophisticated
chord changes and definition in their melodic transitions. It
is an album that can be appreciated based on the band's skills
as tunesmiths. The songs are well crafted whether you like hard
rock/nu metal music or not.
-Susan Frances
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